Assassin's Creed 2

Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Rating: Mature
Price: $59.99

By Joe Ziemba

Assassin’s Creed 2 picks up where the first game left off. The player finds themselves controlling Desmond once again in the Templar facility. From there, things start to get crazy. For the rest of the game the storyline kept me tightly hooked. I was so immersed in the game that it’s pretty much all I did until I reached the end. The menu screens were awesome with an Animus style to them. They were all rendered with lots of detail and variation. The in-game menu system was also very well done. Organization of the different sections was done in way to minimize the amount of effort needed. One thing I liked in particular was how the map was quickly accessible by hitting a single button. Overall, the control schema and HUD was done cleverly becoming streamlined for the user.

I believe that the star component of Assassin’s Creed 2’s is the gameplay. As it should be, navigating through the game, interacting with other characters and combat was done extremely well. Even though the controller scheme was complicated at first with multiple layers of context sensitive buttons, after a short learning curve I was able to utilize my character with finesse, intuition and ease. Basically, I didn’t have to fight with the controller to do what I wanted.

I found the graphics in the game to be at a standard level for today’s offerings. I didn’t notice any spectacular new milestones reached here, nor did I find them to be anything more than the next high quality game. I did notice, however, that the graphics were very polished. The game environment, characters and objects were all very clear and detailed. I never found the frame rate to be lacking but instead very smooth allowing fast paced sequences to flow smoothly. When it came to the game’s audio, the quality, variation and delivery was excellent. Music and effects were balanced fitting nicely into the whole package.

Assassin’s Creed 2‘s combination of history, mystery, intrigue and excellent voice acting make for a superb plot environment. When I reached the end of the game, I found myself wanting more. Not because there was anything missing but rather that I already cannot wait until the next game. You need to play this if you haven’t already.